1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical disk drive. More particularly, the present invention relates to a cartridge recognizing device for recognizing data of a disk cartridge used in an optical disk drive.
2. Description of the Related Art
A disk cartridge houses recording/reproducing media, such as an optical disk or an optical magnetic disk, so that the media can be used in a disk drive. Recently, there has been an increased use of disk cartridges for recording multimedia data, such as image and audio data. Various types of disk cartridges that have improved recording density have been proposed to meet the high capacity requirements of multimedia. For example, there are various types of DVD-RAMs with different recording densities, such as a single-sided disk type, in which data is recorded on one side of a disk, a double-sided disk type, in which data is recorded on both sides of a disk, a single-sided double recording layer type, in which double recording layers are formed on one side of a disk so that data is recorded on the respective recording layers, a double-sided double recording layer type, in which double recording layers are formed on both sides of a disk so that data is recorded on the respective recording layers, and a single-sided disk type, in which a track pitch is narrowed.
The method for recording/reproducing data with a disk drive device varies depending on which type of disk is used. Accordingly, a disk drive requires means for determining the type of disk cartridge that is installed in the disk drive.
For this reason, a conventional disk cartridge has recognition holes for indicating the type of disk contained therein as well as other data regarding the disk cartridge, and recognition plates for opening and closing the recognition holes. The optical disk drive includes a switch that has a probe for detecting whether or not the recognition holes are opened or closed. The switch is installed on a base chassis, where a spindle motor and a pick-up device are also installed.
The conventional optical disk drive just described has several problems, however. First, the base chassis of the conventional optical disk drive is large because it includes a space for installing the switch, thereby increasing unit costs.
Second, the rear end of the base chassis of the conventional optical disk drive is hinged to the frame of the optical disk drive so that the spindle motor and the pick-up device can be raised and lowered by rotating the base chassis. A loading device for raising and lowering the base chassis and transferring a tray, on which the disk cartridge is placed, is installed in the front part of the optical disk drive. Since a part of the base chassis extends to the location of the loading device, and the switch is installed on this extended part of the base chassis, the space required to install the loading device is enlarged, thereby making it difficult to install the loading device.
Third, since the base chassis extends to the front part of the optical disk drive (where the loading device is located), the optical disk drive must be thick to provide sufficient height to raise and lower the spindle motor and the pick-up device.
Accordingly, there is a need for an optical disk drive with an improved apparatus for detecting the type of disk cartridge installed in the disk drive.